Month: August 2011

Choosing a Law School — Advice for Future Environmental Lawyers

I get asked fairly often for advice on choosing a law school, and I thought it might be worth offering some ideas in a more public setting.  Here are some thoughts you might consider as you’re looking for a place to study environmental law. Program Rankings.  Berkeley does well in the U.S. News ranking of …

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Infill Parking Bill Killed by Local Government Lobby?

When last we checked on AB 710, the California bill to eliminate minimum parking requirements for infill and transit-oriented projects, it sailed through Assembly committees and eventually passed that body unanimously, 78-0. And why not?  The bill offers both environmental and economic benefits: by removing inefficient minimum parking requirements on transit-adjacent developments, more projects could …

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When gas pipelines explode, who is at fault?

It is almost a year since a natural gas pipeline explosion in San Bruno, California killed 8 people and destroyed 38 homes, and the National Transportation Safety Board has now issued it report.  The Board found that pipeline owner Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E), as well as state and federal regulators, were responsible for …

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What Is Green Kosher?

“Green Kosher” is the new advertising tag for Empire Kosher food processors, based in rural Pennsylvania.  But what does it mean? There is an important backstory here.  Empire is the nation’s leading kosher poultry producer, which has aggressively pursued a progressive image in the media (and particularly the Jewish media).  It has done this even …

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Is Cap and Trade Unfair?

I should probably start by putting my cards on the table.  I’m not really an advocate of cap and   trade as compared with other forms of regulation.  What I care about is getting effective carbon restrictions in place, whether they take the form of cap and trade, a carbon tax, industry-wide regulations, or something …

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Murder, Pollution, Illegal Drugs & Our Public Lands

The murder this past weekend of Fort Bragg, California City Councilman Jere Melo puts an all-too-human face on a long-festering environmental crisis. Melo was shot and killed in a remote area in Mendocino County by a squatter who was reportedly growing marijuana on forest lands there. Councilman Melo, whose day job was to manage 150,000 …

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A Judicial Win for PACE Clean Energy Financing

Finally, some good news from the courts for advocates of PACE financing for energy efficiency and renewables.  Federal Judge Claudia Wilken in the Northern District of California issued a ruling late Friday on the Federal Housing Finance Authority’s (FHFA) motion to dismiss a challenge from the Sierra Club, Placer and Sonoma Counties, Palm Desert, and …

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Quest for the Best

Public Health Degree has a list of the twenty cities in the world with the cleanest air.  (I was pleased to see my prior home Minneapolis on the list — not surprisingly, my current home in the Bay Area didn’t qualify.)   That got me interested in looking for other listings of high environmental quality. There …

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Panel – Environmental Law in China: Implications for Bay Area Business (September 27, 2011)

China Dialogue, Asia Society, K&L Gates, and the Business Council on Climate Change are sponsoring a panel on Environmental Law in China: Implications for Bay Area Business on September 27, 2011 in San Francisco.  I will be on the panel with a terrific group of speakers who work on climate change, environmental law, and green/clean-tech …

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Libertarians for Environmental Red Tape!

  Libertarians have long castigated environmental review statutes, such as NEPA and CEQA, for trampling private property rights, the theory being that they make developing property so difficult and expensive that they are tantamount to disrupting those right. That’s why it was so odd to see the Pacific Legal Foundation advocating for more prolix environmental …

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